Needless to say, as a Jays fan, I am over the moon with joy right now.

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." --- Bart Giamatti, on baseball

People forget history sometimes, but lets make something perfectly clear; Loria has been doing this since the 90's. He dismantled several Expos teams saying that they couldn't afford the payroll(s) and the stadium wasn't good enough. He then proceeded to play a large part in the murder of baseball in Montreal.

Fast forward, and he's doing the same song and dance. I'm not shocked. If you're in Florida, don't be shocked if you have new owners soon, and Loria cashes out in a big way (or even fines an ownership stake in another team).

Originally posted by El NastioPeople forget history sometimes, but lets make something perfectly clear; Loria has been doing this since the 90's. He dismantled several Expos teams saying that they couldn't afford the payroll(s) and the stadium wasn't good enough. He then proceeded to play a large part in the murder of baseball in Montreal.

Fast forward, and he's doing the same song and dance. I'm not shocked. If you're in Florida, don't be shocked if you have new owners soon, and Loria cashes out in a big way (or even fines an ownership stake in another team).

I hate Loria so much.

There might still be Montreal businessmen with a stake in the Marlins because of Loria and the whole Expos debacle/fiasco.

If anything, it feels a lot worse this time around, because Loria's swindled the Miami taxpayers into funding his abomination of a stadium to the tune of nearly half a billion dollars. This sucked for them in '97, but this time, that populace is literally paying for this circus out of their own pocket.

EDIT:

LeBatard's radio show is not disappointing today, especially with special guest Stan Van Gundy (of all people) weighing in.

And LeBatard kind of nails it with these points:

-Albert Pujols wanted a no-trade clause for just this kind of reason. The organization denying him was a huge red flag.-Buehrle and Reyes made sacrifices (pit bull and dreadlocks, respectively) to come to Miami for the long haul. Their treatment sends a bad message to free agents.-All of these free agents came to Miami for the Florida tax rate. They just got shipped to Toronto, where the tax rate is nightmarish. This also sends a bad message to free agents.

I must be honest; I have a hatred for your team. It's not that your team or you fans did anything inherently wrong, but it is your owner.

Your owner murdered a piece of my childhood. Ordinarily that would suffice, but this goes deeper. I played baseball for sixteen years, and I loved it. I only stopped due to elbow and back problems, and even then down the road I'll take up coaching. I love the game, and I loved my team.

But there's something so much more than that; he denied me the chance to pass down the love of my baseball team to my son. He's almost two years old now, and somehow I'll need to explain to him that "son, we can't see my old ball team. They aren't around any more". To see authentic National League baseball involves going to the States, which is fine in itself, but then I also need to explain why we don't head to Toronto ("son, pitchers need to get some at-bats. That's how the game is played").

I'm a Phillies fan now, or at least a casual Phillies fan. They're close by Ottawa (sorta), play in the National League, and have a rich history. They are far enough removed from their World Series wins that I'm not a bandwagon jumper if I decide to continue to invest in them emotionally. I of course despise the Natinals, but that goes without saying. But you guys.....you guys.

I feel bad for you Marlins fans, I do. I understand your emotions right now. I grew up with these feelings. So again, please know I stand in support not of your owner, but of your fanbase. And not of your team, I still cannot support your team. Not until Loria is gone.

Originally posted by It's False But for now, let's all just send our condolences to poor beleaguered Miami Marlins fan.

(edited by It's False on 14.11.12 0030)

Thank you. I'm accepting condolences from anyone at this point. The rumor was Loria could be getting rid of these contracts in order to sell the team; he has already denied it, but as of now, I'm clinging to that hope.

@gregmparks - live Tweeting of Raw and Impact, wrestling thoughts and other slices of life.

On today's PTI, Tony K pointed out that the Red Sox paid a lot of money to Matsuzaka in the offseason. Hell, they paid $50M just to TALK to Dice-K's people. And why did the Sox go through all that trouble?